Motivated by the current (2011) political climate in Wisconsin it seems reasonable to devote some time and effort to comment on issues and some of the hyperbole. So we in the public should do what we can to help focus "journalists" on delineating real facts versus spin. If you accept the spin you do not understand the policy implications.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

11/16: Perhaps it is a coincidence that when I awake every morning I look at Twitter to see what the latest reports are about which OCCUPY efforts were raided or shut down overnight ... is it Seattle, Portland, New York, San Francisco, etc. Who will it be and what will the pretext be ... sanitation, health, bad for business, public safety, murder, drugs, sex ... almost better than cable news which always has one or two bus or train crashes at 9:30 am every morning. Where else could a junkie get a democracy fix every morning!

From the story ....

While riot police sweeping through tent cities in Portland, Ore., Oakland, Calif. and New York City over the last several days may suggest a coordinated effort, authorities and a group that organized the calls say they were a coincidence.

"It was completely spontaneous," said Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a national police group that organized calls on Oct. 11 and Nov. 4. Among the issues discussed: safety, traffic and the fierceness of demonstrations in each city. ...

Some of the information shared among law enforcement officials included how many people are involved in the protests, if there have been any arrests and if demonstrators are planning any events. Smith said he was unaware of other agencies' plans to evict protesters.

In New York, where police cleared out a tent camp in a park near Wall Street that had become the center of the movement when it sprang up several months ago, authorities declined to discuss details of their talks with other agencies.New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the department had been in touch with police departments elsewhere, but that what works in one city may not necessarily work in another.

"We're sort of unique. I don't think you can look at one city . We have the ability to mass a large number of police officers," he said. "Some of these other cities quite frankly don't."